Mariah Woods killer Adolph Earl Kimrey pleads guilty, get’s life sentence

The North Carolina man charged with administering a fatal dose of chloroform to his former girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter pleaded guilty Monday.

Adolphus Earl Kimrey II will spend the remainder of his life in prison following his admission to murdering Mariah Kay Woods in Dec. 2017, the Jacksonville Daily News reports. Kimrey reportedly told fellow inmates he used the chemical agent to put the girl to sleep so he could stay up and get high on methamphetamine.

The district attorney’s office at one point expressed intentions to seek the death penalty, but said Monday it would have been difficult to prove aggravating circumstances had the 37-year-old defendant argued the death was accidental. It’s been 16 years since a North Carolina inmate was last executed.

Woods was found dead in a south east North Carolina creek following an extensive search. Volunteers joined the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office, FBI and United States Marine Corps in looking for the girl.

The victim’s mother passed several polygraph tests, persuading investigators she had no involvment in her daughter’s death. Kimrey did not fare so well under similiar questioning.

Prosecutors said he purchased several items from a Family Dollar store before Woods was killed, including bleach and nail polish remover used to make chloroform. His defense attorney claimed the defendant’s judgement was poor due to drugs he’d taken, which contributed to the victim’s exposure to the colorless compound he’d mixed.

“I am deeply sorry for the pain and grief I’ve caused,” Kimrey reportedly told the court Monday. “I am so very sorry for the family, and everyone involved.”

His trial was delayed several times since he was charged in Jan. 2018 due to several factors including the COVID-19 pandemic and strains on the Duplin County legal system.

Woods’ mother described herself to the court as a “broken, destroyed person.”